An Intact Sakiori Futon Cover: Colorful Ragweave

$245.00 USD

mid twentieth century54" x 24", 137 cm x 61 cm

What a wonderful thing.

This is a fully intact futon cover which is completely hand stitched from what the Japanese call karafuru (colorful) cottons. The key feature of this wonderful piece from old Japan is the inclusion of sakiori cloth which is hand woven from shredded, leftover clothing and bedding, in this case, the sakiori is also colorful.

From the detail photos here it is fairly clear that this object was pieced together from different cottons, the choice of cottons being fairly random and their arrangement based on what the available materials dictated to the maker.

As is very evident from the detail photos shown here, this futon cover is essentially a very large pillow sham which can be easily filled with a custom made insert: the back of the futon cover shows an opening that will accept the fill of choice.

It is not often that such a thing can be found in Japan, especially in such good condition as this one, therefore this piece is a bit rare, you could say.